Mr. Lifeguard
'Mr. Lifeguard' was a Bluto-like nemesis of Popeye who made a one-time appearance in the 1950 cartoon Beach Peach. He was built exactly like Bluto, with exaggerated pec, delt, and lat muscles, but was blond and clean-shaven, without the five-o'clock shadow that the animators gave clean-shaven Bluto in such cartoons as She-Sick Sailors and Tar with a Star. CHARACTER The lifeguard is employed in what appears to be Miami Beach, where Popeye and Olive have gone for a carefree afternoon in the sun. He is provided with a lifeguard tower equipped with a console-model television, electric fan, elevator, motorbike, and an entire keg of beer. He watches a baseball game on the TV and pours himself a cold one, apparently unconcerned about those in his charge, until he hears Olive Oyl's voice far below. He is immediately smitten, and, making use of the elevator and motorbike, is at her side in a flash, burying Popeye in the sand in the process. He begins posing his chiseled bodybuilder physique, which proves irresistible to Olive Oyl. Popeye--looking ridiculous in his straw boater, long-sleeved shirt, and oversized shorts that hark back to another era in contrast with the lifeguard's sleek tank suit--challenges the larger man. The lifeguard blows him away with the guns of his chest tattoo; deposits him in a trash recepticle with a powerful toss of his medicine ball, makes him look like a foolhardy daredevil by letting the air out of his float device,and finally uses the little man's ego against him as he coerces Popeye into making a high-dive into an empty concrete pool. With Popeye seemingly out of the way, the lifeguard grabs Olive and the two are off for a dizzying motorboat ride. The lifeguard demands a kiss and is refused. In his fury, he tells Olive to 'get out and walk,' a plot device that was also employed (on a roller-coaster) in Abusement Park. Olive waterskies through an obstacle course of navigation hazards until Popeye gets hold of his spinach, transforms himself into a torpedo, and viciously blows the handsome hunk to smithereens. WAS HE BLUTO? From the date of its release a furious debate has raged as to whether this character was actually Bluto with his hair bleached or another character entirely. Those who argue for a separate identity cite the lack of heavy beard growth and 'different' facial characteristics. They point out that the use of alcoholic stimulants and the slothful dereliction of watching a televised baseball game on a good-tanning beach day with women present were completely out-of-character for Bluto. Those who take the opposite stance maintain that Jackson Beck utilized his 'regular' Bluto voice for the lifeguard, without making any attempt at nuance; that the lifeguard and Bluto both have the exact same tattoo of a battleship on their chest and utilize it in precisely the same fashion (e.g. For Better or Nurse), and that the lifeguard was drawn with Bluto's signature sailor hat as a tipoff. They also take as irrefutable evidence the fact that the lifeguard's double-bi pose, wherein the biceps mutate into a bowling ball and tenpins, is precisely the same footage that was crafted for Bluto in Popeye Meets Hercules, released two years previous. Recent forensic experiments, where Bluto's black hair and beard are superimposed on images of the lifeguard, seem to conclusively refute the 'different facial characteristics' contention (Figures I and II). Category:Bluto Characters